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Systematic review

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Motivating and Demotivating Factors for Community Health Workers Engaged in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programs in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.

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Authors Shipton L , Zahidie A , Rabbani F
Journal Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan : JCPSP
Year 2017
Links Pubmed

This article includes 17 Primary studies 17 Primary studies (17 references)

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This systematic review aimed to synthesize primary research on motivating factors of community health workers (CHWs) for maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Peer-reviewed literatures were systematically searched in five databases. Identified studies were then screened and selected for inclusion. The eligibility criteria were reported primary qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, with participants being CHWs in LMICs who address MNCH, which investigated motivation or related concepts of retention, attrition, and performance. A thematic synthesis process was used to analyze findings of motivating factors, reported by included studies. Seventeen qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods studies met inclusion criteria. Two overarching themes were developed: Levels of motivation (i.e. individual, community, and health system) and stages of motivation (i.e. recruitment, retention, and attrition). Nine sub-themes were further developed at the intersection of each level and stage of motivation. Each subtheme comprises the motivating factors that are influential to community health workers at each stage and level. These themes and sub-themes are presented in a Community Health Worker Motivation Model. The motivation model can be used to identify what motivating factors are relevant to community health workers motivation and the stakeholders necessary to address each motivating factor. Recruitment of community health workers for maternal, neonatal, and child health relies largely on individual level of motivation. At retention, individual level motivating factors remain influential; and community and health system begin to influence motivation positively. But, overall health systems in low and middleincome countries are demotivating the health workers rather than motivating them.

Systematic review

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A systematic review of supportive supervision as a strategy to improve primary healthcare services in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Journal International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics
Year 2016
Links Pubmed DOI

This article includes 18 Primary studies 18 Primary studies (18 references)

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BACKGROUND: It may be assumed that supportive supervision effectively builds capacity, improves the quality of care provided by frontline health workers, and positively impacts clinical outcomes. Evidence on the role of supervision in Sub-Saharan Africa has been inconclusive, despite the critical need to maximize the workforce in low-resource settings. OBJECTIVES: To review the published literature from Sub-Saharan Africa on the effects of supportive supervision on quality of care, and health worker motivation and performance. SEARCH STRATEGY: A systematic review of seven databases of both qualitative and quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals. SELECTION CRITERIA: Selected studies were based in primary healthcare settings in Sub-Saharan Africa and present primary data concerning supportive supervision. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Thematic synthesis where data from the identified studies were grouped and interpreted according to prominent themes. MAIN RESULTS: Supportive supervision can increase job satisfaction and health worker motivation. Evidence is mixed on whether this translates to increased clinical competence and there is little evidence of the effect on clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the lack of sound evidence on the effects of supportive supervision owing to limitations in research design and the complexity of evaluating such interventions. The approaches required a high level of external inputs, which challenge the sustainability of such models.

Systematic review

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Which intervention design factors influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review.

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Journal Health policy and planning
Year 2015
Links Pubmed DOI PubMed Central

This article is included in 1 Broad synthesis 140 Broad syntheses (1 reference)

This article includes 140 Primary studies 140 Primary studies (140 references)

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Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as an integral component of the health workforce needed to achieve public health goals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many factors influence CHW performance. A systematic review was conducted to identify intervention design related factors influencing performance of CHWs. We systematically searched six databases for quantitative and qualitative studies that included CHWs working in promotional, preventive or curative primary health services in LMICs. One hundred and forty studies met the inclusion criteria, were quality assessed and double read to extract data relevant to the design of CHW programmes. A preliminary framework containing factors influencing CHW performance and characteristics of CHW performance (such as motivation and competencies) guided the literature search and review.A mix of financial and non-financial incentives, predictable for the CHWs, was found to be an effective strategy to enhance performance, especially of those CHWs with multiple tasks. Performance-based financial incentives sometimes resulted in neglect of unpaid tasks. Intervention designs which involved frequent supervision and continuous training led to better CHW performance in certain settings. Supervision and training were often mentioned as facilitating factors, but few studies tested which approach worked best or how these were best implemented. Embedment of CHWs in community and health systems was found to diminish workload and increase CHW credibility. Clearly defined CHW roles and introduction of clear processes for communication among different levels of the health system could strengthen CHW performance.When designing community-based health programmes, factors that increased CHW performance in comparable settings should be taken into account. Additional intervention research to develop a better evidence base for the most effective training and supervision mechanisms and qualitative research to inform policymakers in development of CHW interventions are needed.

Systematic review

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Attitudes and behaviours of maternal health care providers in interactions with clients: a systematic review.

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Journal Globalization and health
Year 2015
Links Pubmed DOI PubMed Central

This article includes 68 Primary studies 68 Primary studies (68 references)

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BACKGROUND: High maternal mortality and morbidity persist, in large part due to inadequate access to timely and quality health care. Attitudes and behaviours of maternal health care providers (MHCPs) influence health care seeking and quality of care. METHODS: Five electronic databases were searched for studies from January 1990 to December 2014. Included studies report on types or impacts of MHCP attitudes and behaviours towards their clients, or the factors influencing these attitudes and behaviours. Attitudes and behaviours mentioned in relation to HIV infection, and studies of health providers outside the formal health system, such as traditional birth attendants, were excluded. FINDINGS: Of 967 titles and 412 abstracts screened, 125 full-text papers were reviewed and 81 included. Around two-thirds used qualitative methods and over half studied public-sector facilities. Most studies were in Africa (n = 55), followed by Asia and the Pacific (n = 17). Fifty-eight studies covered only negative attitudes or behaviours, with a minority describing positive provider behaviours, such as being caring, respectful, sympathetic and helpful. Negative attitudes and behaviours commonly entailed verbal abuse (n = 45), rudeness such as ignoring or ridiculing patients (n = 35), or neglect (n = 32). Studies also documented physical abuse towards women, absenteeism or unavailability of providers, corruption, lack of regard for privacy, poor communication, unwillingness to accommodate traditional practices, and authoritarian or frightening attitudes. These behaviours were influenced by provider workload, patients' attitudes and behaviours, provider beliefs and prejudices, and feelings of superiority among MHCPs. Overall, negative attitudes and behaviours undermined health care seeking and affected patient well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The review documented a broad range of negative MHCP attitudes and behaviours affecting patient well-being, satisfaction with care and care seeking. Reported negative patient interactions far outweigh positive ones. The nature of the factors which influence health worker attitudes and behaviours suggests that strengthening health systems, and workforce development, including in communication and counselling skills, are important. Greater attention is required to the attitudes and behaviours of MHCPs within efforts to improve maternal health, for the sake of both women and health care providers.

Systematic review

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Exploring the influence of trust relationships on motivation in the health sector: a systematic review.

Authors Okello DR , Gilson L
Journal Human resources for health
Year 2015
Links Pubmed DOI PubMed Central

This article is included in 1 Broad synthesis 31 Broad syntheses (1 reference)

This article includes 31 Primary studies 31 Primary studies (31 references)

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BACKGROUND: Dedicated and motivated health workers (HWs) play a major role in delivering efficient and effective health services that improve patients' experience of health care. Growing interest in HW motivation has led to a global focus on pay for performance strategies, but less attention has been paid to nurturing intrinsic motivation. Workplace trust relationships involve fair treatment and respectful interactions between individuals. Such relationships enable cooperation among HWs and their colleagues, supervisors, managers and patients and may act as a source of intrinsic motivation. This paper presents findings from a qualitative systematic review of empirical studies providing evidence on HW motivation, to consider what these studies suggest about the possible influence of workplace trust relationships over motivation. METHODS: Five electronic databases were searched for articles reporting research findings about HW motivation for various cadres published in the 10-year period 2003 to 2013 and with available full free text in the English language. Data extraction involved consideration of the links between trust relationships and motivation, by identifying how studies directly or indirectly mention and discuss relevant factors. RESULTS: Twenty-three articles from low- and middle-income countries and eight from high-income countries that met predetermined quality and inclusion criteria were appraised and subjected to thematic synthesis. Workplace trust relationships with colleagues, supervisors and managers, employing organisation and patients directly and indirectly influence HW motivation. Motivational factors identified as linked to trust include respect; recognition, appreciation and rewards; supervision; teamwork; management support; autonomy; communication, feedback and openness; and staff shortages and resource inadequacy. CONCLUSION: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first systematic review on trust and motivation in the health sector. Evidence indicates that workplace trust relationships encourage social interactions and cooperation among HWs, have impact on the intrinsic motivation of HWs and have consequences for retention, performance and quality of care. Human resource management and organisational practices are critical in sustaining workplace trust and HW motivation. Research and assessment of the levels of motivation and factors that encourage workplace trust relationships should include how trust and motivation interact and operate for retention, performance and quality of care.

Systematic review

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Recruitment and retention of general practitioners in rural Canada and Australia: a review of the literature.

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Authors Viscomi M , Larkins S , Gupta TS
Journal Canadian journal of rural medicine : the official journal of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada = Journal canadien de la médecine rurale : le journal officiel de la Société de médecine rurale du Canada
Year 2013
Links Pubmed

This article includes 77 Primary studies 77 Primary studies (77 references)

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INTRODUCTION: Both Canada and Australia are facing severe shortages of primary health workers, and these shortages are exacerbated in rural and remote communities. This literature review highlights similarities and explores the factors that serve to attract and retain family practitioners in underserved regions of Canada and Australia. METHODS: We used MEDLINE on OvidSP to review the literature between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 30, 2012. We excluded sources if the primary objective did not consider recruitment or retention of general practitioners. RESULTS: We found a total of 114 sources, 28 of which were excluded, leaving 86 sources for review. We organized results according to 5 life stages of family physicians in rural practice and graded the literature according to the strength of the methodology and the relevance of the findings. We chronologically categorized Canadian and Australian literature that discussed recruitment and retention of family practitioners into rural practice. CONCLUSION: Various factors that pertain to each life stage of a family physician have been shown to positively correlate with the eventual decision to commence and remain practising in rural areas. Training programs should be better structured to attract candidates who are more likely to enter rural practice. Policy-makers should be mindful of these findings, because improvements in retention will deliver large financial savings.

Systematic review

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Community accountability at peripheral health facilities: a review of the empirical literature and development of a conceptual framework.

Journal Health policy and planning
Year 2012
Links Pubmed DOI PubMed Central

This article includes 20 Primary studies 20 Primary studies (20 references)

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Public accountability has re-emerged as a top priority for health systems all over the world, and particularly in developing countries where governments have often failed to provide adequate public sector services for their citizens. One approach to strengthening public accountability is through direct involvement of clients, users or the general public in health delivery, here termed 'community accountability'. The potential benefits of community accountability, both as an end in itself and as a means of improving health services, have led to significant resources being invested by governments and non-governmental organizations. Data are now needed on the implementation and impact of these initiatives on the ground. A search of PubMed using a systematic approach, supplemented by a hand search of key websites, identified 21 papers from low- or middle-income countries describing at least one measure to enhance community accountability that was linked with peripheral facilities. Mechanisms covered included committees and groups (n = 19), public report cards (n = 1) and patients' rights charters (n = 1). In this paper we summarize the data presented in these papers, including impact, and factors influencing impact, and conclude by commenting on the methods used, and the issues they raise. We highlight that the international interest in community accountability mechanisms linked to peripheral facilities has not been matched by empirical data, and present a conceptual framework and a set of ideas that might contribute to future studies.

Systematic review

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Increasing Access to Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas Through Improved Retention: Global Policy Recommendations

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Report Geneva: World Health Organization. WHO Guidelines Approved by the Guidelines Review Committee
Year 2010
Links ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This article includes 67 Primary studies 67 Primary studies (67 references)

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Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.

Systematic review

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A critical review of interventions to redress the inequitable distribution of healthcare professionals to rural and remote areas.

Journal Rural and remote health
Year 2009
Links Pubmed RxForChange

This article includes 75 Primary studies 75 Primary studies (75 references)

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INTRODUCTION: The shortage of healthcare professionals in rural communities is a global problem that poses a serious challenge to equitable healthcare delivery. Both developed and developing countries report geographically skewed distributions of healthcare professionals, favouring urban and wealthy areas, despite the fact that people in rural communities experience more health related problems. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the most important studies addressing the recruitment and retention of doctors to rural and remote areas. METHODS: A comprehensive search of the English literature was conducted using the National Library of Medicine's (PubMed) database and the keywords '(rural OR remote) AND (recruitment OR retention)' on 3 July 2008. In total, 1261 references were identified and screened; all primary studies that reported the outcome of an actual intervention and all relevant review articles were selected. Due to the paucity of prospective primary intervention studies, retrospective observational studies and questionnaire-driven surveys were included as well. The search was extended by scrutinizing the references of selected articles to identify additional studies that may have been missed. In total, 110 articles were included. RESULTS: In order to provide a comprehensive overview in a clear and user-friendly fashion, the available evidence was classified into five intervention categories: Selection, Education, Coercion, Incentives and Support - and the strength of the available evidence was rated as convincing, strong, moderate, weak or absent. The main definitions used to define 'rural and/or remote' in the articles reviewed are summarized, before the evidence in support of each of the five intervention categories is reflected in detail. CONCLUSION: We argue for the formulation of universal definitions to assist study comparison and future collaborative research. Although coercive strategies address short-term recruitment needs, little evidence supports their long-term positive impact. Current evidence only supports the implementation of well-defined selection and education policies, although incentive and support schemes may have value. There remains an urgent need to evaluate the impact of untested interventions in a scientifically rigorous fashion in order to identify winning strategies for guiding future practice and policy.

Systematic review

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Motivation and retention of health workers in developing countries: a systematic review.

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Journal BMC health services research
Year 2008
Links Pubmed DOI PubMed Central

This article is included in 1 Broad synthesis 14 Broad syntheses (1 reference)

This article includes 14 Primary studies 14 Primary studies (14 references)

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BACKGROUND: A key constraint to achieving the MDGs is the absence of a properly trained and motivated workforce. Loss of clinical staff from low and middle-income countries is crippling already fragile health care systems. Health worker retention is critical for health system performance and a key problem is how best to motivate and retain health workers. The authors undertook a systematic review to consolidate existing evidence on the impact of financial and non-financial incentives on motivation and retention. METHODS: Four literature databases were searched together with Google Scholar and 'Human Resources for Health' on-line journal. Grey literature studies and informational papers were also captured. The inclusion criteria were: 1) article stated clear reasons for implementing specific motivations to improve health worker motivation and/or reduce medical migration, 2) the intervention recommended can be linked to motivation and 3) the study was conducted in a developing country and 4) the study used primary data. RESULTS: Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria. They consisted of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative studies. Seven major motivational themes were identified: financial rewards, career development, continuing education, hospital infrastructure, resource availability, hospital management and recognition/appreciation. There was some evidence to suggest that the use of initiatives to improve motivation had been effective in helping retention. There is less clear evidence on the differential response of different cadres. CONCLUSION: While motivational factors are undoubtedly country specific, financial incentives, career development and management issues are core factors. Nevertheless, financial incentives alone are not enough to motivate health workers. It is clear that recognition is highly influential in health worker motivation and that adequate resources and appropriate infrastructure can improve morale significantly.